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The Amazing Spider-Man 2 Review
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 is of course a movie tie-in game. Nothing good barely ever comes out of these things. Of course reception for the film hasn't been great and the first game was evidently alright, so how does this fair? Also while I normally don't touch on visuals, a warning: This game is UGLY, especially for a PS4 game. It's very clear Activision did not dump alot of money into the graphics or animation departments. Story - Writing Depending on how much effort you put into locating audio logs this story will either be a fun one or a confusing/bad one. If you don't find any audio logs at all for Max and are unfamiliar with the films plot Electro's appearance for example will seem very random and not have any context. The developers have taken some interesting risks with the writing actually. While it's normal to throw in more characters for the game adaptation of a super-hero film they go as far as to make two of the characters, Kingpin and Carnage, actually upstage the film's antagonists, Electro and Green Goblin. It actually gets to the point where the climax's pacing is horrible because they have to make room for Electro and Goblin's scenes, it probably would have been better to put them more in the middle of the story, at least in Electro's case. Goblin feels like he shouldn't have been in the game at all. If you do take the time to find Carnage's audio logs which thankfully are only missable if you do it intentionally, the writing actually does a great job of building him up as an imposing and interesting antagonist, and proper pay-off is given. The voice actor also is probably the best of the game's cast, which isn't saying much but still, credit where credit is due. The game also suffers from the issue of building up characters that don't appear in the game way too much. While you can find things like Doc Ock's arms and Vulture's wings hinting to their future appearance there are some character such as Mr. Negative and Hammerhead that are mentioned repeatedly and talked about, yet you never actually see them. You also can find Rhino's mech suit from the film but never get a chance to battle it, it just sits there as a hidden scenery piece. Perhaps the characters were planned to have boss fights that were cut? The biggest issue though is how predictable the story is. Mentioning Carnage is a bit of a spoiler but anyone who's familiar with the character is going to guess who it is the moment the news report on the "Carnage Killer" plays. It's the same deal with Kingpin, it builds up what he does as a twist but it's not shocking the slightest, and we already know from the film that Max will become Electro and Harry will become the Goblin. Other then the smaller details such as how they expanded more on Carnage's character you are going to see pretty much every plot element coming. It's still a fun story, but that is a major issue. Story - Missions The gameplay is some of the best in a Spider-Man game yet. They take alot of inspiration from the Arkham games but in a good way. Spider-Man definitely does not feel at all like Batman, and it has enough originality to not warrant it a rip-off. Stealth sections are also present and surprisingly competently made, although they are quite easy, as is the rest of the game, which is a problem with almost every Spider-Man game in exsistance. Boss Battles sadly range from bad to decent, the highlight definitely being Electro's fight and the low point being Shocker, or Kassidy if you consider that section a boss battle, being more of a beat up the punching bag while it spouts out exposition. Most of the battles get really repetitive and don't differ much from the regular combat, doing little things to mix it up but nothing major. It certainly isn't like having to fight Shocker or Doc Ock in Spider-Man 2 for the PS2, or fighting Vulture and Electro in Web of Shadows. Certain sections have you play as Peter Parker instead, and these sections are essentially plot dumps. If you are enjoying the story these shouldn't bother you much other-wise if you are just in for the action these will get annoying. Free Roam This time around the iteration of web-swinging is one of the best it's been. Trying to time everything right and suceeding to do so feels great, and while I still wish there was a general web-zip ability available like in the older games, web rush is actually a pretty decent feature. There are plenty of collectibles and they also all have purpose. Comic book pages will unlock full classic Spider-Man comics for you to read, Oscorp crates give you large bonus for upgrading Spider-Man, the audio logs help expand the story, and obtaining more suits to wear is great. One large issue with the game is the "Hero/Menace" system they spent a big deal using to promote the game. It's actually annoying. It's not so much a moral choice system as it is a "if you don't do these annoying repetitive side-missions constantly we're going to punish you for it." A Fisk funded task force shows up, and it will go out of it's way to kill you if you are ranked as a "menace" which you get from ignoring the side-missions. The problem is the side-missions are really short ones such as saving a hostage from a car in a high-speed chase, and they are extremely repetitive. It doesn't help that every time you complete one instead of going back into the free-roam action you have to sit through a brief (also repetitive) news report praising you. The side-missions aren't great either. One in particular I dislike is the aforementioned car chase. Where in say, Spider-Man 2 those missions were "get on the car, punch it several times, criminals get out, beat up the criminals," in Amazing Spider-Man 2 they are quick-time event fests. Also, while the Comic Stand is great for a certain cameo, having the comics, concept art, and figures grouped in one spot and the costumes/level replay area in a completely different spot is counter-intuitive and unnecessary. Conclusion Pros *Combat is great fun *Stealth is fun *Free-roaming is fun *Electro boss fight *Story is fun *Collectibles with a purpose Cons *Side-missions get repetitive and annoying *Hero/Menace system sucks *General lack of polish *Boss fights aren't very special *Too easy *Story is predictable *Movie's plot elements don't mesh well with the superior added elements Final Recomendation A surprisingly fun movie game that probably is more worth your time then the actual film, and one of the best Spider-Man games we've gotten in a long time. It suffers from lack of polish and obvious low budget but the developers put effort where it mattered most, the gameplay, and the effort does show. This is a game that clearly understands it's a game, and sometimes simply being fun is enough. If you are a Spider-Man fan check it out for a reduced price or as a rental, don't put expectations too high and you'll have a great time. Category:2014 Reviews